Pak woman shot dead by brother in court for ‘honour’

Killer managed to evade security checks as he was a lawyer; had a reputation for assaulting policemen.

In another case of honour killing, a Pakistani woman was shot dead by her brother in front of dozens of witnesses in a packed Hyderabad courtroom over the weekend.

Twenty-two-year-old Raheela Sehto’s brother, Javed Iqbal Shaikh, a lawyer by profession, lunged at Raheela and shot her at point blank on the left side of the head.

The victim’s family, who was so irked by her marriage to Zulfiqar Sehto, that it had filed a complaint with the local police, stating that her 30-year-old husband, a life-long neighbour, had kidnapped Raheela.

Earlier, Raheela’s uncle had also tried to strangle her with a scarf during an appearance at the high court in Hyderabad in July. The killer managed to evade security checks, as he was one of the country’s hostile lawyers, known to assault policemen violently. Four others who accompanied him in court have also been charged for the killing.

“All I want is justice, I want the court to convict Javed and his accomplices with the death penalty,” Sehto said.